BERNSTEIN: Serenade / Facsimile / Divertimento

Conductor, composer, educator, pianist: Leonard Bernstein was, without question, the greatest musician America has ever produced. Bernstein described his Serenade, inspired by Plato’s Symposium, as a “series of related statements in praise of love” and considered it his “most satisfying” work. Of particular note is the slow lyrical melody in the first movement, Phaedrus, soon to be immortalised in Maria from West Side Story (Naxos 8.559126). Facsimile, a work by turns acerbic and tender, depicts post-war malaise and the spiritual vacuum of modern man. In the Divertimento for Orchestra, composed for the Boston Symphony on their centenary, Bernstein enjoys himself with many musical puns and breezy humour.

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